From spy satellites to mobile networks, S Korea pins space hopes on new rocket | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Sunday
May 28, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
SUNDAY, MAY 28, 2023
From spy satellites to mobile networks, S Korea pins space hopes on new rocket

World+Biz

Reuters
15 October, 2021, 11:35 am
Last modified: 15 October, 2021, 11:46 am

Related News

  • Pacific islands, in spotlight, to push climate change in South Korea summit
  • South Korea detains passenger after Asiana plane door opened mid-air
  • North Korea constructing satellite launch pad with 'new urgency'
  • North Korea criticises US, South Korea military drills as 'nuclear blackmail'
  • South Korea, Canada agree to step up cooperation on critical minerals, security

From spy satellites to mobile networks, S Korea pins space hopes on new rocket

Reuters
15 October, 2021, 11:35 am
Last modified: 15 October, 2021, 11:46 am
From spy satellites to mobile networks, S Korea pins space hopes on new rocket

South Korea plans to test its first domestically produced space launch vehicle next week, a major step toward jumpstarting the country's space programme and achieving ambitious goals in 6G networks, spy satellites, and even lunar probes.

If all goes well, the three-stage NURI rocket, designed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) to eventually put 1.5-ton payloads into orbit 600 to 800km above the Earth, will carry a dummy satellite into space on Thursday.

South Korea's last such booster, launched in 2013 after multiple delays and several failed tests, was jointly developed with Russia.

The new KSLV-II NURI has solely Korean rocket technologies, and is the country's first domestically built space launch vehicle, said Han Sang-yeop, director of KARI's Launcher Reliability Safety Quality Assurance Division.

"Having its own launch vehicle gives a country the flexibility of payload types and launch schedule," he told Reuters in an email.

Military and civilian benefits

It also gives the country more control over "confidential payloads" it may want to send into orbit, Han said.

That will be important for South Korea's plans to launch surveillance satellites into orbit, in what national security officials have called a constellation of "unblinking eyes" to monitor North Korea.

So far, South Korea has remained almost totally reliant on the United States for satellite intelligence on its northern neighbour.

In 2020 a Falcon 9 rocket from the U.S. firm Space X carried South Korea's first dedicated military communications satellite into orbit from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NURI is also key to South Korean plans to eventually build a Korean satellite-based navigation system and a 6G communications network.

"The program is designed not only to support government projects, but also commercial activity," Oh Seung-hyub, director of the Launcher Propulsion System Development Division, told a briefing on Tuesday.

South Korea is working with the United States on a lunar orbiter, and hopes to land a probe on the moon by 2030.

Trial launch

Given problems with previous launches, Han and other planners said they have prepared for the worst.

The launch day may be changed at the last minute if weather or technical problems arise; the craft will carry a self-destruct mechanism to destroy it if it appears it won't reach orbit; and media won't be allowed to observe the test directly.

At least four test launches are planned before the rocket will be considered reliable enough to carry a real payload.

According to pre-launch briefing slides, the rocket's planned path will take it southeast from its launch site on the south coast of the Korean peninsula, threading its way over the ocean on a trajectory aimed at avoiding flying over Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, and other major land masses.

"This upcoming launch may be remembered as the hope and achievement of Korean rocketry historically no matter the launch is successful or not," Han told Reuters.

Sensitive technology

Space rockets on the Korean peninsula have been fraught with concerns over their potential use for military purposes, leaving South Korea's efforts lagging more capable programmes in China and Japan.

"Modern rocketry in Korea couldn't devote its capability much in R&D of rockets because of long-standing political issues," Han said.

The United States has viewed North Korea's own satellite launch vehicles as testbeds for nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile technology. A North Korean space launch in 2012 helped lead to the breakdown of a deal with the United States.

"North Korea, of course, will not look favourably on South Korea's rapidly advancing space capabilities, which are far more technologically advanced than those possessed by the North," said James Clay Moltz, a space systems expert at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School.

South Korea's push into space comes as it speeds ahead with its own military ballistic missile systems after agreeing with the United States this year to end all bilateral restrictions on them.

"There is no concern on military applications in NURI launch vehicle development," said Chang Young-keun, a missile expert at the Korea Aerospace University. Unlike the liquid-fuelled NURI, South Korea's military missiles use solid fuel, which is better for weapons, he added.

South Korea is not seen as a "threat" by either Russia or China, so it seems unlikely to affect their space programs, which are already highly militarized, Moltz said.

"Many space launch technologies are inherently dual-use," he said, but noted that he hopes NURI's development will "not lead to an arms race in space, but instead a safer 'information race'" where South Korea has better intelligence to head off any future crisis.

Top News

south korea / Satellite / launch

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Govt to avoid being guarantor of loans to reduce risk
    Govt to avoid being guarantor of loans to reduce risk
  • How to maximise tax rebates through planned investments
    How to maximise tax rebates through planned investments
  • Bangladesh, China show interest in regional connectivity under BRI
    Bangladesh, China show interest in regional connectivity under BRI

MOST VIEWED

  • FILE PHOTO: Local residents fish in front of the abandoned site of the old Vunidogoloa Village, Fiji, 19 July, 2022. REUTERS/Loren Elliott
    Pacific islands, in spotlight, to push climate change in South Korea summit
  • Reflections of people are seen on the unearthed ancient artefacts displayed after a conference to announce the newly discovered site where two embalming workshops for humans and animals along with two tombs and a collection of artefacts were found, near Egypt's Saqqara necropolis, in Giza, Egypt 27 May, 2023. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
    Egypt unearths mummification workshops, tombs in ancient burial ground
  • FILE PHOTO: Japan's new Chief of Cabinet Secretary Matsuno Hirokazu announces new cabinet members at a news conference in Tokyo, Japan October 4, 2021. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
    Russia accuses Japan of 'cynical speculation' after Tokyo's nuclear rebuke
  • Germany finds itself ill-suited to serve the energy needs of industrial giants like BASF SE over the longer term.Photographer: Alex Kraus/Bloomberg
    Europe's economic engine is breaking down
  • Chinese Special Envoy for Eurasian Affairs Li Hui leaves the headquarters of the Russian foreign ministry following talks in Moscow, Russia, 26 May, 2023. A sign reads: "Entry without face masks is prohibited". REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
    China will make concrete efforts for political solution to Ukraine crisis - special envoy
  • Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan
    Pakistan establishment closes ranks in crackdown on Imran Khan

Related News

  • Pacific islands, in spotlight, to push climate change in South Korea summit
  • South Korea detains passenger after Asiana plane door opened mid-air
  • North Korea constructing satellite launch pad with 'new urgency'
  • North Korea criticises US, South Korea military drills as 'nuclear blackmail'
  • South Korea, Canada agree to step up cooperation on critical minerals, security

Features

17a Belmont street Aberdeen. Photo: Courtesy

Life in the Wild: How it all started

16h | Panorama
Photo: Collected

Vintage-looking instant cameras: A trip down memory lane

19h | Brands
Photo: Courtesy

Dhriti: Exquisite bags for every occasion

19h | Brands
Extras in a movie set. Photo: Collected

A nurse, a beggar, or a police officer: The lives of extras in tinsel town

21h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Dubai’s gigantic moon shaped mega resort

Dubai’s gigantic moon shaped mega resort

14h | TBS World
In an interview given to TBS Lt. Col. Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury

In an interview given to TBS Lt. Col. Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury

2d | TBS Stories
New US visa policy introduced to promote free and fair elections in Bangladesh

New US visa policy introduced to promote free and fair elections in Bangladesh

2d | TBS Today
Nation pays tribute to poet Nazrul

Nation pays tribute to poet Nazrul

2d | TBS Stories

Most Read

1
Photo: TBS
Bangladesh

Private helicopter service launched in Ctg

2
End of zero tax!
NBR

End of zero tax!

3
Photo: TBS
Energy

Wind power feeds national grid for first time Friday

4
Malaysian ship docks at Mongla port with 926 luxurious cars
Bangladesh

Malaysian ship docks at Mongla port with 926 luxurious cars

5
Nagad builds hope on Tk510cr bond, incurs Tk625cr loss
Economy

Nagad builds hope on Tk510cr bond, incurs Tk625cr loss

6
Illustration: Asifur Rahman
NBR

Tax return filing any time, but with penalty

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]